China’s crash throws up rich pickings for HSBC

HSBC has made more than a billion dollars from buying and selling shares in a half-year for the first time, boosted in large part by the Chinese stock market crash.

Frenetic trading of Chinese shares, particularly in Hong Kong, helped the bank to more than double income at its global equities division to $1.1 billion for the first half of the year.

Chinese shares have lost more than a third of their value in recent months, having risen by more than 100 per cent in the preceding year, handing HSBC’s equities business a huge boost as revenues in the first half leapt by 155 per cent.